Optimists only please

Since I have been one of the ring leaders of the David Carr intervention, I thought it would only be fair to look on the sunny side, namely the Defense:

Defense - played with a short field due to 5 TO's. Played 2/3 of the game on Defense and allowed only one touchdown. Moreover, they held the Bills to 3/14 on 3rd down conversions. Defense gets a B in my book.

Special Teams - played well holding a vaunted Bills ST to meager stats, while not committing any TO's. B in my book once again.

Penalties - 6 for 38 yards. Once again not bad for a game.

We are at home next week up against a team that has not lost a regular season game in their last 15, but they do have questions marks as well on the offensive side, except for their O line.

I'd give the defense a D+ (which is NOT a failing grade like the offense got!): they did not pressure the QB...matter-of-fact, he would roll out for an extra 2-3 looks at his receivers...heck, our D allowed their friggin' QB to RUN for one play at 19 yards!

wait wait wait...that's not being "positive"...o.k., another try... [to be continued after I meditate on it]

I say Fangio needs to call more blitzes...I am still kind of worried about PBuch, but he had 2 awesome plays yesterday that were negated by penalties, the one being when he dropped McGahee for a 5 yard loss. I would like to see more of Travis Johnson on the field. I did not like all of the penalties in the first half, I mean holding on a defensive lineman? How often does that get called. Also I think Peek took himself out of the game, he seemed to lose intensity after being called for a couple of penalties but overall I think our defense is our brightest group right now.

Heck, the Bills declined more penalties than they accepted. That was in no way a well dicsiplined team out there. Six penatlies simply doeesn't tell the story.

I would give the D a C-. On the good side, we didn't break down in the red zone. I am sure some of that was inexperience by Losman rather than great D, nevertheless, you have to go with the result.

OTOH, I wasn't happy with the lack of pressure on the QB, especially in the first half. I thought they were the same ole read and react D of last year, and not the new, faster, exciting, pressuring, agrresive D that we were promised this year. I just think Fangio's defense is too freakin complicated. Note to Fangio: this ain't the Rice defense okay. These aren't Phi Beta Kappa's. Strap em up and start hitting someone. If I wanted to watch a bunch of Mensa's, I would have goine to a debate at Harvard. Got it?

1. The NFL season is a long one. One year the Pats won the Super Bowl they lost in week 1 to the Bills I think 31-0. No one was picking them to go all the way after that game.

2. The Texans beat the Steelers at Heinz 24-6 despite the Texans offense only getting 3 first downs.

3. Reliant Stadium is the loudest stadium in the league. We often play good teams well at home.

4. Though people were complaining about the early bye week, maybe it will be a good thing given our weird start. I've seen all the Texans games, and that ranks up there with the oddest games I've ever seen them play.

5. According to the paper, there were no serious injuries to any of the players. Given how some of the things were going, that is something to feel fortunate about.

Hey, I tried. We ask the players and coaches not to panic during games because panicking doesn't help performance. I'll do my part to not panic either.

1. The NFL season is a long one. One year the Pats won the Super Bowl they lost in week 1 to the Bills I think 31-0. No one was picking them to go all the way after that game.

2. The Texans beat the Steelers at Heinz 24-6 despite the Texans offense only getting 3 first downs.

3. Reliant Stadium is the loudest stadium in the league. We often play good teams well at home.

4. Though people were complaining about the early bye week, maybe it will be a good thing given our weird start. I've seen all the Texans games, and that ranks up there with the oddest games I've ever seen them play.

5. According to the paper, there were no serious injuries to any of the players. Given how some of the things were going, that is something to feel fortunate about.

Hey, I tried. We ask the players and coaches not to panic during games because panicking doesn't help performance. I'll do my part to not panic either.

So there you go.

Click to expand...

well said, i'm all for optimism. being concerned is one thing, raising a raucous about it is another

Im optimistic the Texans (Damn , I almost typed Oilers) will score 2 more points this week than last ....45-9 Steelers .... Thats about as optimistic as I can get at this point .

Ill agree , the Defense played pretty well considering the Bills field position .... Much of the game they spent in the Texans red zone and holding them to FG's is encouraging .

Special teams ..... DD Returning kick-offs is not something I want to see ... NO , they didnt have any turn overs but the returns (tries to be optimistic) ......were below average ..... Coverage teams looked ok .... didnt give up any big plays .

ONLY 6 penalties for 38 yards .... Ill take that from a Dom Capers coached team any day !

I was wondering some about the line against the Steelers, and John McClain mentioned something on 610 this morning. The Chronicle is going to run something later this week about how much better the Texans play the week after a disappointing loss. They came up with some chart and they didn't have room for it in today's paper.

Any stat freaks out there who have done their own analysis?

Oh well, as they say, on any given Sunday......

I sure would like them to beat the Steelers. There is just something in my DNA that makes beating the Steelers feel particularly good.

Yeah, I knew what the line was, but what I meant was that I was wondering why the line was so low after the Texans played such a grim game. I figured it was because Pittsburgh is more of a ball control offense. Then McClain mentioned his chart about how the Texans play after a stupid loss--that they usually have a bounceback week.

I'm with you on this one. Can we expect the kid back in time for this game? I mean really anyone with legs is better than Bradford. I think that dudes got wall-eye vision. Speaking of which does anyone else agree that was an awesome pass by Carr? (The one into the end zone to bradford).